135 Venezuelans being treated for cholera infections from the Dominican Republic

Venezuelans who were in the Dominican Republic for a wedding have brought cholera back home.Venezuelan health officials say they were infected with the Haitian strain of the disease. The Haitian cholera spilled over into the Dominican as the two nations share an island together. 135 Venezuelans are being treated for the disease.

From this AFP article that we found at Google News, we find out more about the spread of cholera from the Haiti.

"At the moment we have not had a single case of someone being contaminated in Venezuela," Health Minister Eugenia Sader told Globovision.

Authorities have said those being treated were part of a group of 452 Venezuelans who traveled to the Dominican Republic for a wedding earlier this month, and Sader said the government has been calling them "one by one."

Besides the cholera patients in Caracas, another 12 Venezuelans infected with the bacteria were still in the Dominican Republic and four others traveled on to Spain, Mexico and the United States.

The government has called on all the guests to report for testing even if they are showing no signs of the diarrheal disease, and has been warning the general public through media advertisements and a hygiene campaign.

Venezuela has had no cholera in a decade, and health officials have emphasized that it is crucial to gain control of the outbreak in the first 24 to 48 hours to prevent the imported bacteria from becoming established here.